Improvement in floating grain elevators and driers



J. w. SYKES.

, Grain Drier. No. 34,992. Patented April 15, 1862.

UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE;

JAMES IV. SYKES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN FLOATING GRAIN ELEVATORS AND'DRIERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,992, dated April 15,1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JAMES WILLIAM SYKEs, of Chicago, in the county ofCook and State ofv Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Floating Grain Elevators and Driers; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the constructionand operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1represents a perspective view of the apparatus arranged on a scow. Fig.2 represents a vertical longitudinal section taken centrally through thesame.

I am aware that grain-elevators have heretofore been arranged on a scowso that they might be moved from place to place, as might be required.This of course I do not lay any claim to.

Most, if not all, of the grain that is to be shipped or stored is foundto be too damp to lie in bulk, and is, or ought to be, dried before itis so shipped or stored. The drying has heretofore been done separatelyfrom the elevating, if done at all, requiring a separate apparatus andseparate handling, and of course an increased expense, and often, fromthe inconvenience of drying, it is not done at al and thousands ofbushels of grain are thus destroyed or damaged. I propose to combine theelevating and drying in one operation in a floating apparatus, and thussave the expense of a separate drying operation and the conveyance ofthe grain thereto, and secure the grain in all cases, whether shipped orstored, against injury or damage by moisture; and my invention consistsin combining with an elevating apparatus arranged upon a scow or otherfloating vessel an interposed drying apparatus, so that the grain whilein trcmsitu from one vessel to another or from a vessel to a storehouse,or vice versa, may be dried at one and the same operation with theelevating or transshipm ent.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

be used alongside of the vessel to be discharged or the store-housewhere the grain is to be deposited, or from which it is to be taken.

13 is a trough or trunk containing an elevator a, of any of the usualkinds. This trunk or troughB is pivoted by arms I) b to the pillowblock0, so that it may be raised or lowered to suit the height or depth ofthe grain to be raised.

The elevator a is driven byan endless band 0, passing over the pulleys d6, respectively placed on the main driving-shaftD and upon the uppershaft supporting the elevator a. The grain carried up by the elevator ais conducted by a hinged spout f into a hopper g, which may be connectedwith a weighing apparatus 71, for weighing the grain as it passes to thedrying apparatus 1'. This drying apparatus may be of any of the knownkinds, and the grain is passed over or through it, being in theoperation or passage dried so as to remove from it all moisture of aninjurious character. I prefer to use the drier patented October 23, A.D. 1860, by J. B. \Vheeler, though I can use in its place any drierwhich will efiectually drive the moisture from the grain to be dried andelevated. The grain, having passed over or through the drying apparatus,falls into a receptacle 7a, whence it is taken up by an elevator Z,arrangedin a trough or trunk E, and by means of proper conveying spoutsor troughs the grain from this elevator may be carried to the vesselwherein it is to be shipped or the store-house where it is to be stored.If, however, it is desirable, as in manycases it is, that the driedgrain should be weighed to ascertain its exact quantity, then the grainfrom the elevator I may be carried by a spout m to a hopper 12, arrangedin a weighing apparatus 0, where it is weighed, and may fall into thereceptacle 1'), whence it is taken by the elevator q to the place ofdeposit, wherever that may be. By such an apparatus grain may not onlybe dried and elevated, but its weight may be also ascertained, bothbefore drying it and after it is dried, and thus the weight of themoisture driven off in its transit may also be known. The moisture fromthe grain, driven from itby the drying opera tion, should be allowedfreely to escape, so as not to impede that which follows it. The passageof heat-ed air through the grain and pulleys r 8 2f. steam or any otherpower.

he handling of the grain will carry oit dust and light impurities, thusimproving the grain in another essential point.

It is obvious that one or both of. the weighing apparatus may bedispensed with, and

' when the one 7t is dispensed with the grain may pass directly from theelevator B over the drier t' to the elevator E.

If the weighing apparatus 0 be dispensed with, then the elevator q mayalso be dispensed with, and the grain may go from the elevator Edirectly to the place of deposit.

The elevators E and q may both be driven from the main shaft D throughthe belts and The shaft D may be driven by Having thus fully describedthe nature and object of my invention, what I claim therein as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

V Combining with an elevating apparatus ar ranged upon a scow or otherfloating vessel an interposed drying apparatus, (Wheelers patent ofOctober 23, A. D. 1860, or any other,) the Whole forming a floatinggrain drier and elevator capable of transferring grain from one vesselto another or from a vessel to a store-house, or vice versa, and ofdrying the grain while in the process of being transferred, and thewhole apparatus capable of being easily floated from one locality toanother, as may be required, for the purpose of elevating and drying thegrain.

J. sYKEs.

Vitnesses:

S. S. WILLIAMSON, WM. N. UPHAM.

